Mar 8, 2011

It's been a while since the last sake journey, so let me go through what we'd been...
最後のsake journeyから随分時間が空いてしまったので、おさらいから。

1) Polishing Rice
first step of the journey starts from milling / polishing the rice.unlike the table rice, sake rice is polished higher proportions.
until at least 80% up to 20% or even higher in exceptional case.
the percentage of the rice remained, is called "Seimaibuai", one of of the key indicators to classify the quality of sake.1) 精米
Sake journeyのはじめは、精米、米を磨くところから始まります。
酒米は食用米よりももっと小さく磨くところが特徴。
本来のお米の８０％から２０％まで削り、中にはもっと磨いてしまうケースも。
この削られ残ったお米の割合を「精米歩合」と呼び、これが日本酒の価値や分類に大きく左右する指標となります。

2) Washing and Soaking
after washing off the powders came from milling, the rice is soaked in preparation for being steamed.
for most of the premium sake, the rice is separated 10-30kg each, and soaked in the small buckets. stopwatch is used to time the length of soaking accurately, so that the water content is at an optimum level for perfect steamed rice.2) 洗米と浸漬
精米後の糠を落とすために米を洗い、蒸米前の準備として米を水に浸します。
一般的なプレミアム酒は、１０〜３０キロ毎に分けられ浸漬されます。
この時に必要ななのがストップウォッチ。浸漬時間を厳密に計ることで、完璧な蒸米を目指します。

4) Koji Production (Koji-muro I & II)
after cooling steamed rice, a part of rice is brought to "Koji-muro", or the Koji-making room.
Koji is the mold which releases enzymes that breaks down the starch into sugar, which can then be fermented. the room is kept around 31-36 degrees, the perfect temperature for the Koji mold to grow.4) 製麹 (麹室の巻 I & II)
蒸したお米を冷やした後、お米の一部は「麹室」へ運ばれます。
麹とは、お米の中のでんぷん質を麹菌の酵素で壊し、糖化させる役割を果たすもの。そこでできた糖分を使って、アルコール発酵を進めます。麹室の温度は３１〜３６度に保たれ、麹菌が繁殖するのに適した環境を作ります。

5) Yeast Starter
when the Koji rice is developed, they are added to the fermentation mixtures of plain streamed rice, water and yeast in the small vat. this mix is called "Shubo". over a period of 2 to 3 weeks, koji breaks down the starch in the rice, and yeast cells feed on the sugar.5) 酒母造り
麹米が出来上がると、それにプレーンな蒸米と水、酵母菌を合わせて「酒母」を作ります。
２〜３週間程で、糖化が進み、酵母による発酵が始まります。

6) Main Sake making, 3 additions of rice, Koji, and water
so this is the heart of sake making process.
when the Shubo is ready, it is transferred to the larger vat, then mixed again with another steamed rice, koji rice and water. this mixture is called "Moromi", it is where the multiple parallel fermentation takes place.
the ingredient are added in three stages, with the second addition being twice more than the first, and the third being twice the volume of the second. This three stage process is known as "Sandan-jikomi", usually takes around 4 or more days. The first day is called "Soe",
then the second day called "Odori" when the yeast is allowed to propagate.
the third day is "Naka", this is when all the amount in the vat become 7 times more than the first day.
and the last last day called "Tome". Once all the ingredients has added, this mixture is left ferment for another 18-30 days. the multiple parallel fermentation takes place by the enzymes of Koji breaking starch into sugar, and the sugar reacting with yeast to ferment into alcohol.
By the end of process, the alcohol content of Moromi gets up to 20%,
the highest naturally occurring alcohol content in the world because of the parallel fermentation techniques.